Lesson plans: I have to have things written out and planned. I understand they may change or repeat, but I need framework. Kudos to you that can fly by the seat of your pants. I envy you. So, I went to Pintrest and behold- tons of lesson plan printables. Don’t go Pin happy. Remember what you are focusing on. Keep it simple. I decided on this one as it was separated by subject matter and day, and I could add bible verses and black history facts.

Curriculum/Themes: We decided not to go with a curriculum and not, necessarily, doing a hard- core theme every week. Again, I used what I wanted to focus on as a guideline and went from there. Yes, in October we are doing Halloween crafts and a bunch of stuff with pumpkins but in January we are learning about the Chinese New Year because inclusion of different cultures is very important to me. Get the picture?

Printables: For us, this looked like letter coloring sheets, maps, flags from other countries. For you, this could be very different.

Lesson plan ideas: I honestly couldn’t believe what was available to me. I mean, they took information sharing to a whole new level. Yes, there are entire lesson plans out there for you to print and teach on various subjects. I looked up ideas especially on subject areas I wasn’t the most familiar on like Ramadan and applied them to his level of development and educational goals.

So, here are my steps so far on how I prepped for homeschool preschool;

1. Know what I want to teach/focus on

2. Find a lesson plan printable that worked for us

3. Make a schedule to complete lesson plans (make this reasonable)

4. Research ideas, printables and whatever else I needed to.

Lastly, and I’m only saying this because in this information-sharing age, it gets over looked, the Library. Your local library is there for you to help you and your child delve into so many new things. And it’s free! (As long as you return books on time.)

I’ve gotten lots of inquiries about my homeschool adventures we are starting so I thought I would share here in several posts. Today, we are talking about getting organized.

A little back history on me- I used to be a preschool teacher and nanny so I’ve studied childhood development and spent lots of time around young children. When the Hubs and I decided I would stay at home with our littles, we decided against preschool. For those who send their kids-this is not an attack. I applaud you. I’m just telling you our decisions and why. (You need a disclaimer for everything these days…) I had the skills and honestly, it wasn’t in the budget. I’m not a luxury SAHM in case you missed that. So preschool at home was always “the plan” for us.

Now to getting organized…

As I stated in an earlier post, my son has a speech delay and other things we work on in occupational therapy (OT), so I wanted to get on some sort of schedule and start our goals for those things before introducing a “school” schedule. Then I realized, frankly, I’m a raising a black male in white America-a country that doesn’t value him or others like him and removes his history and his God from all curriculum. That doesn’t fly for me. Those reasons solidified that we will be educating at home for as long as we can. So, knowing me, I had to get organized and make a plan.

I started by figuring out what I want to teach/focus on: My son is almost 18 months and, again, has therapies which come with assignments for the week. So we already have a lot on our plate. I also believe that learning through play, especially at this age, is integral. There was also no need for both of us to dread this every day. So, I narrowed down what I wanted to focus on daily and what we would focus on 1-2 days a week.

For us, it looks like this:

Everyday: We will review the calendar with songs and dance, a short bible verse and a Black History Fact. Am I expecting him to know the latter? No. This is laying a foundation for him to eventually remember them and inherently know this is what we learn and its importance.

1-2 days a week: Subject matters of Language, Math, Science, Art and Sensory. The latter is important for us because that will tie into our OT assignments as language will tie in speech. We will also learn letters, numbers, counting, etc.

Then, I figured out what I want my day to look like. For this, you have to be real with yourself and your schedule. I also had to keep in mind my child’s abilities. He isn’t one to sit still for 60 seconds, let alone 3 hours. We also have a life. We do play dates and run errands. We can’t spend every day in our house. So, after compiling all of that and remembering what preschool schedules were for his age, I decided 10-15 minutes for circle time. I know that may seem long but this includes lots of transitions because my little one needs that. Standing, sitting, singing, dancing, reading, reciting…get the picture? Circle would be followed by breakfast. After breakfast, a subject area or whatever we have planned for the day. I decided, for the most part, I would let him decided how long the subject area last. I wanted to know his interest, see his brain learning and developing, not shoving activities down his throat. I will want him to try new things, but I know he isn’t going to love everything. (Wouldn’t it be nice if he did though?)

I’m sure many of you asked this-whether you were joking or seriously concerned, rest assured, I am not. Toddler chasing is a full-time job and real life doesn’t leave any room for anything else but sleep. I try to sneak in household chores and errands when I can, but sometimes even those can’t get done. It’s my life. I’m learning to love it.

May I also say I honestly and truly forgot how hard pregnancy can be on a body? I’m not complaining or even whining (yet), but it takes a lot to create a human while keeping another, who doesn’t value his life at all, alive. Anywho, my hope is to get several posts out to you regularly before number two comes along and yet another inevitable break.

One thing is for sure-I’ve missed you. I haven’t even met most of you, but sharing my life and you taking the time to read about it means the world to me. I’m thankful you haven’t given up on me.